The Green Bay Packers have ruled out four players on their final injury report for Week 4, before taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: starting left guard Aaron Banks (knee/toe), starting right guard Jacob Monk (quadricep), defensive lineman Warren Brinson (calf/groin) and defensive lineman Anthony Campbell (ankle). Surprisingly, the Packers can make up these losses, at least in terms of numbers, with their active roster, as the team is already “oversigned” on both the offensive and defensive lines.
With these four players ruled out, Green Bay only needs to make one more scratch to get their 53-man roster down to a 48-man game-day roster on Sunday.
Banks’ injury replacement appears to be Laken Tomlinson, who received snaps at left guard in media-open portions of practice this week. Right guard is more complicated, as Donovan Jennings, Travis Glover and the recently signed Kevin Zeitler all got looks to prep them to play the position this week. LaFleur said that Zeitler will be the team’s season-long answer at right guard when he’s caught up on the offense, but there are still questions about whether or not Zeitler will be able to go immediately.
Tomlinson, another signing this week for the Packers, is hitting the ground running a little quicker. One reason why that could be possible? There’s a lot of crossover between the systems he’s played in previously and Green Bay’s system. Tomlinson was in San Francisco with current Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich (then the assistant offensive line coach), and was under offensive coordinators Mike LaFleur, head coach and play-caller Matt’s younger brother, and Nathaniel Hackett, a former LaFleur offensive coordinator.
Beyond the players who are ruled out, starting linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (shoulder/concussion) and backup interior offensive lineman Jager Burton (groin) were listed as questionable today. Cooper was a limited participant on both Wednesday and Thursday, but was elevated to a full participant on Friday. Burton was a full participant on Wednesday but dropped down to a limited participant on Thursday and Friday.
Even if Burton can’t go, the Packers’ shouldn’t need to bring up a practice squad offensive lineman, as they carry a league-leading 11 offensive lineman on their 53-man roster. For reference, most teams carry eight offensive linemen on the game-day roster, as the league has an exemption for the 48th man (really, the league’s game-day roster rules are for a 47-man roster and an exemption), if and only if that 48th man is an eighth offensive lineman.
To make this real simple (assuming that Cooper can pass concussion protocol fully), the Packers’ five scratches this week are expected to be the four players they’ve already ruled out due to injury plus an offensive lineman (be it Burton or someone else). Currently, this is the roster count for Green Bay’s offensive linemen on the 53-man roster:
- Jordan Morgan (preferred left tackle)
- Laken Tomlinson (injury replacement left guard)
- Sean Rhyan (preferred center)
- Anthony Belton (injury replacement right tackle)
- Kevin Zeitler (right guard option)
- Donovan Jennings (right guard option)
- Travis Glover (right guard option)
- Jager Burton (questionable)
- John Williams (backup left tackle)
- Aaron Banks (OUT)
- Jacob Monk (OUT)
The Buccaneers ruled out first-round rookie pass-rusher Rueben Bain Jr. with a groin/shoulder injury today, along with listing starting cornerback Jacob Parrish, who has missed two practices this week with a personal injury, as questionable for Sunday.
